Friday, September 18, 2009

Recently I posted an entry here and also to the Classroom 2.0 Ning about digital natives. (http://drmabell.blogspot.com/2009/09/what-do-kids-really-know.html). I got several very nice responses at the ning and one more here. My question was...what do kids know, and also what do the NOT know? My contention is that they do indeed have an affinity for technology that "digital immigrants" do not have. Also they do have a fearlessness and desire to use tech at school. BUT they lack important other information including how to search efficiently, how to evaluate material, and how to be safe and smart online.

I would love to have more conversation/comments, either here or at the Ning. One thing that has not been addressed is the concern I have that part of what kids do NOT know is how to be safe and smart online. We need to be teaching that much more, I contend.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

One cool thing about Facebook is that you reconnect with many people. My daughter had a wonderful English teacher in high school for a couple of AP classes. They happened to share the last name, Herring. When Linda moved away, I lost track of her but then Emily found her former mentor on FB. It is nice to know she is happy and doing well. Here is a piece she wrote this week. that I think contains a message we can all appreciate:

PEOPLE OF COLOR

People without color, Those pale souls so colored by blood, Stains of that un-Civil War, A war over a workforce: The abuse of human muscle lashed by the un-human colorless.

Almost 150 years hence, some still wish for plantation ‘splendor,’ Scarlet stained blood of ones of color. Lily white hands stained by the scarlet savagery of slavery.

Centuries later, the stains remain, Re-bloodied by each act of savagery.

The colorless pray for a heaven unavailable to them So bloodied by the bane of slavery.

Until all are of color, the color of kindness and kinship. Until that day…

Thank you, Linda, for allowing me to share this here. Emily and I remain among your most fervent fans!

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Last week I went looking for a site that I want to use in an upcoming presentation about visual literacy. I thought it was a museum site, and I remembered a page with lots of graphics that were beautifully presented. When you clicked on one, you would get basic information and from there you could click again and get more detail if you wished. Sadly I had not tagged the site and could not remember how to find it. I thought it was a museum in either Washington DC or New York but the places I checked, while having great websites, were not the one I wanted. I even wondered if I had imagined the site! Finally I posted to Texas Library Connection (TLC) and Library Media Specialists Network (LM_NET) asking for help finding this resource. I got some wonderful responses, but on the first day, no one offered the one I remembered. The next morning, though, my hopes were fulfilled. Here is my posting with the good news:

I KNEW someone would find this site for me! I HAD FAITH that I was not completely crazy in remembering it. Somehow I failed to tag it. The site is...drumroll...NationalArchives' Digital Vaults/NationalArchives Experience. The URL: http://www.digitalvaults.org/I know I said museum, but to me that is a type of museum...and I said art, and it is more like prints...but even with those miscues, I got my site. Thanks to everyone for suggestions, many of which were also great ones. Bottom line, most major museums have a compelling flash display for their online images. Here is THE SITE and thanks to Mary Beth Huba, from Benold Middle School, Georgetown, TX! And Mary Beth, I don't know if you got my personal thanks but I did send. It was rejected once by the district spam filter. That's me, your trusty spam mailer! Cheers, mabell

If you have not visited this site, take time to go. I looked at a lot of other great locations but this one is still my favorite.

Educational Origami is a wiki that is chock full of information for educators who want to use technology in classrooms, labs, and libraries. It is where I link up to the free book, Bloom's Digital Taxonomy, by Andrew Churches, and this wiki is his site. There is so much great information here that I do not feel I can adequately describe it other than to say...just go look! Kudos to Mr. Churches for his generosity in sharing this site and the entire book he has written! The book is well worth downloading and is very up-to-date with references to tools we should all know about NOW.

Sunday, September 6, 2009

I have tons of sites at my Delicious page, including many tagged "Share." These are sites I love and want to remember to share with students and colleagues...but I never share them! Too busy. So my latest resolve is to post one every day (OK almost every day) with a SHORT description. Here is one I have been meaning to mark and close, that has been sitting open for a procrastinating week. It is called What's on Where, and is a travel site to let you know what is going on in cities and countries all over the world. I looked up NYC because I am planning to take a student group back there this coming June. Sadly I will miss the Salsa Congress and the Brooklyn Book Festival but the museums will still be there and going strong. Closer to our date the site will be even more relevant.If you travel a lot, or want to plan a trip, this is a great tool to add to your collection. Enjoy!

PS My embarrassingly disorganized Delicious links are at: http://delicious.com/drmaryannbellOh and...I also have a tag called "revisit" for sites I want to visit again because they are so cool. I never get around to that either. But I know one of these days I can!

My question is...what do kids really know about technology and the Internet? I just posted this over at Classroom 2.0 and thought I would post here too. I admit to being a little nervous about posting to Classroom 2.0 because I am largely inactive there and feel very much a newby. Hoping for discussion from whatever venue I can exploit. Here is my query:

I am aware there has been a great discussion on this topic. It is called "Are They Really Digital Natives?? But no one has visited/responded in nearly a year. I would love some more recent discussion on the topic. Yes, I am writing an article and looking for quotes, and will hope to garner some plus permission to use. But I am also really concerned about this. Too often, I fear, some educators assume kids know a lot more than is the case about technology and the Internet. They assume kids don't need too much instruction or direction because as "digital natives" they already know all that they need to know. I think this opinion is likely to be held by adults who really need to learn more about the technologies for themselves. I think the comments in the other discussion of this topic are still true as 2009 winds down and we look towards 2010. Kids know how to text, have love affairs with their phones, are adept at social media, and are often gadget freaks. But do they know how to search? How to evaluate websites? How to use applications that are directed toward learning and productivity as well as those popular for social networking. I think I will post a survey about this via SurveyMonkey but right now am being so bold is to reintroduce the topic here. I should add that while I have been a Classroom 2.0 member for a long time, I have not ever posted a discussion before. I have been more of a drop in/drop out member. This is due to heavy demands on my time that keep me doing things I MUST do and wishing for more times for environments like this. So I am boldly going where I have not gone before and hoping some of you will be interested in reviving this topic. Thanks in advance,